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Solved: problem after bios update - NEW PROBLEM:

digikiwi

Posted 15 May 2006 - 11:11 PM

digikiwi

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260 posts

I have just tried to upgrade BIOS on my GA - K8NSC-939 motherboard from F1 to F8. I followed instructions using qflash facility via a floppy disk, and then did "load optimised defaults" in BIOS facility. Now on bootup I don't get past the dreaded.

Verifying DMI Pool Data ............. Update Success

Have I really fritzed things here. Please help

PS the reason I was trying to upgrade the BIOS was my ongoing USB issue in my other thread, but this one requires urgent assistance.

digikiwi

Posted 16 May 2006 - 09:13 PM

digikiwi

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260 posts

I can access DOS using a boot floppy, and also the window cd but I can't seem to get a look into the HD. From what I read on other similar problems it could be the master boot record? But I really don't know what diagnostic steps to take from here, so any advice or links would be welcome.

DutchRoy

Posted 17 May 2006 - 07:01 AM

DutchRoy

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Did you see your HDD listed? Usually BIOSes list the hardware (more or less) before stating "Verifying DMI Pool Data".
If not go into the BIOS and try auto-detecting your disk. If it's not recognized check the cabling. If the cabling is ok, do you feel the HDD spinning up when you power on the machine? If not then either there is no power to the HDD or your HDD is dead.
If the HDD is recognized and you can not access it through the Windows XP recovery console (boot from CD) then your filesystem might be damaged. (This couldn't be caused by a BIOS upgrade.)
Let us know what happens...

digikiwi

Posted 17 May 2006 - 11:34 PM

digikiwi

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260 posts

In the first part of the sequence it does detect the two HDs in master channel 2 & 3 respectively. However in the latter part of bios sequence where there is a box around the data (know what I mean?) there is no indication of HDs. It does say that S.M.A.R.T. is disabled for both those drives.

So I'm not sure at which bit I am looking for the drives to be recognised - Please advise!

The HDs do appear to spin up in the boot sequence but then cease again.

I have also noticed that the chipset fan is a little noisy. No acute screeching but an ongoing sound like the bearings are going, so I'll be looking to replace that I guess.

I'm going away four 4 days tonight so any delay in reply is in no way a lack of appreciation for anyone offering tips and or help.

WinCrazy

Posted 18 May 2006 - 02:04 PM

To help simplify the situation you might try disconnecting the second HDD until you can get the boot HDD working again. Make sure the boot HDD is connected using the end connector on the cable.

It might be that the default seetings of the new BIOS revision does not happen to have the HDD in the boot device order list. Try booting and tapping the Delete key once per second to get into the BIOS screen. From there you can navigate to a section that has the device boot order settings. The boot order should be the optical drive, then the floppy then the HDD. Save changes and restart using the proper BIOS menu selection.

digikiwi

Posted 21 May 2006 - 06:56 PM

digikiwi

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260 posts

Thanks for the advice Wincrazy,

It turns out that flashing the BIOS removed the RAID 0 settings. After cogitating/tinkering around the problem for a while I followed that line of inquiry and enabled the SATA Master settings in BIOS>Integrated Peripherals>RAID. This allowed me to enter the RAID utility (F10 key during POST) and set the array to Striping. Now I can boot into Windows again and C: is all there but my 2nd partition E: is seemingly unformatted. Something must have gone astray or reset during the procedure.